Tom DeLay may set the news agenda for every broadcast network, cable "news" channel, newspaper and blog in America (certainly the wingnut blogs, but too many of the blogs on the so-called left have also fallen prey to his trick as well), but he doesn't set our news agenda here at BRAD BLOG. He never has, and he never will.

To that end, we've had very little to say about what DeLay might prefer us to talk about over the past week. Instead, we've brought to light a few items that are much more important to the American people (scroll on back if you don't know what we're talking about).

That said, Randi Rhodes' hit a nail or two on the head about DeLay's newly found fascination with defiling the Sanctity of Marriage (remember, married couples are each others guardians).

But it was her producers who hit out of the ballpark with a few recorded opening montages this past week. Here's two of them worth a listen. (Hopefully .MP3 works for everyone, they should be short enough. Let us know if you need other formats.):

Tom Delay.What an unimaginable scumbag.I dont follow him in the news couse he is so sleazy he makes me feel dirty just hearing about him.He is the kind of politco who makes American politics something you would scrape off your shoe with a stick.Thomas Jefferson warned us that if we are not represented,then THROW THE BASTARDS OUT!!! I am pretty sure that if the Founding Fathers had met these neocons,it would have been pistols at dawn.

The neoCON 'intellectuals', like DeLay, believe that simple lines and simple arithmetic is democracy. They use Iraq as a prime example.

For instance, just standing in line for hours inside barbed wire enhanced, mine-field surrounded, secretly located 'voting areas' is almost a religious experience.

And to be there to put marks on a 'ballot' of 700 mirky names and unknown aliases is heavenly, say the neoCONs.

The ultimate nirvana is then attained when the list of marks is then spirited off in military convoys headed 'somewhere we count'.

When the wizzard returns from 'somewhere we count' to pronounce the holy arithmetic, and to put the robes of rulership on the pontificators they have chosen with their 'high arithmetic', the word organs begin grind out the holy music the neoCONS have paid them to.

Those who form a demonstration and protest to show their political views are shot (link here), however.

What a bunch of hypocrites. That Delay is something else, isn't he? His family *pulls the plug*. That's ok, Dad's gone forever. Michael Schiavo *pulls the plug*. Not ok, Terri might recover. His family benefits from suing the manufacturer of the brakes coupling, but nobody else's family should. I just don't understand why the whole world can't see the disgusting, hypocritical, two-faced bastard for what he is.

Don't remove the tube from good ol' boy Tom. NO NO NO. Let him suffer public humilation, degradation and removal from office, so that all of the "Sheeple" know about him and his dirty deeds. Don't let HIM slip away in the night. He needs full exposure.

Brad stays off the Schiavo topic by letting Randi Rhodes, who has been on this business for years and has been covering almost nothing but it, do it for him. So far, there's nothing wrong with that. But then he speaks ill of those blogs that do cover the topic.

That is hypocrisy. What Tom DeLay does is not hypocrisy; it is lying, it is trickery, etc. Don't call it hypocrisy because then you cannot deal independently with hypocrisy.

I think BradBlog is great, but it could stand a little less self inflation at the expense of others.

hmmm on further thinking and this is a scary thought . .all of this attention and distraction, something really big may be going to happen soon. that has not happened yet. And all this may be giving everyone the feeding tube, including us.

What is important about this whole tragic mess is that the Republicans attempted to do an end run around the Constitution, although it is hard to see Rove making this big of a blunder as evidenced by the polls showing a huge majority of all stripes firmly against this action, and the repeated legal defeats of this by the courts. I'm not convinced that this is over yet though. I can see the brothers Bush trying some kind of Elian Gonzalez manuever, especially with the amount of pressure that is being brought to bear against Jeb in particular. The problem is that Janet Reno acted to enforce a court order, while Jeb would be defying one. For anyone who has a morbid fascination for watching wingnuts eat their own (like me!), you should check out freerepublic.com for a disturbing trip inside the minds of the monsters we are up against.

On the other hand, this may be exactly the kind of thing that Rove sees as something to fire up the base about over the upcoming battle in the Senate over judicial nominations. Hmmm
Either way it backfired and they over-reached. There is a lot of anger being directed at the brothers Bush right now by the freepers for what they see as a failure to act, and this is a good, good thing.

Not sure I see where the hypocrisy is that you refer to. Allowing the right to set the news agenda has been a problem for years, and folks on the left continue to fall prey to it.

On the right, however, an issue of *true* importance (like say, a likely rigged Presidential Election) is given no "airplay" at all. They simply ignore it. And then set the agenda themselves deciding what everyone (right and left) will be talking about.

A smart strategy for them. Thus they control the news agenda in America.

I'm simply suggesting that liberal/progressive bloggers don't take that bait and set the news agenda *themselves* and let the guys on the Right answer to it.

Where is the hypocrisy?

As to our "self-inflation", I assure you it's at nobodies expense but my own.

It's time to remove the Tom DeLay hemorrhoid. I think the country has had enough of him.

I think that this is the end of the theocrazy threat to America. So it was a good thing it happened. DeLay ended up looking demented, and Bush and the gang came out impotent. Really. He came out of his cage swinging and got slammed. He was put back in immediately. The door may be locked now. Jeb, the pukeface, is finished. The country is getting tired of this melodramatic crap.

This country was settled originally by criminals and those seeking religious freedom. The criminals still prevail, of course, but so does religious diversity. This is not a theocracy, and never will be.

Brad is right. It is most important that we exercise our right to put the stories we feel are important in print. We've got to release ourselves from the mind control and refuse to get emotionally and viscerally manipulated by others. That's how we got the government we have. And that's why I follow Bradblog news.... it doesn't follow the small minded crowd.

- the matter should remain a private family matter
- withdrawal of water and food sounds horrible (I would give my dog a lethal injection and put her peacefully to sleep)
- the situation has been on going on for 15 years
- the doctors should be able to provide the correct medical recommendations
- others far more educated and informed on the matter have made the decisions
- it's a sad situation, but politicians should not be permitted to turn it into a political football

The problem with today's politicians, like DELAY and others including Democrats, is that they are so rich and powerful that the laws and rules they make affect OTHER people, and not themselves; i.e., social security, which they will never need; election reform, which they don't need; environmental protection, which they don't need. They have so much money, they can escape all the troubles that the rest of Americans have to deal with: educating their children, dying in wars, medical insurance.

They are hypocritical because they don't care, it doesn't affect them, they can escape. It's all about their comfort and enjoyment of life at the expense of the majority. BUT, they are not just hypocritical, which is really a rather small word, compared to they really JUST DON'T GIVE A DAMN, and laugh at Americans behind their backs when they fall for the "red herrings" tossed to the public like gay marriage, anti-abortion, funding to religious groups. As if they really GIVE A DAMN about any of those issues. They are gay if they want, they have abortions if they want, and they don't live like Christians.

They are just CON-ARTISTS and the majority of Americans are very aware of this.

That's nothing. Terri's dad pulled the plug on his own mother. It got ugly for the Schiavos when the money went to Michael. Life? My ass! It's about the money, the power and the control. The parents are resentful. Terri was probably thankful to God to have found Michael and get away from her awful family. And notice that old Tort reform Tom sued the company that caused his dad's accident.

But, given the vehemence with which he has been fighting to prolong Terri's life, it is a little surprising to learn that Robert decided to turn off the life-support system for his mother. She was 79 at the time, and had been ill with pneumonia for a week, when her kidneys gave out. "I can remember like yesterday the doctors said she had a good life. I asked, 'If you put her on a ventilator does she have a chance of surviving, of coming out of this thing?'" Robert says. "I was very angry with God because I didn't want to make those decisions

I am so glad you brough Gore Vidal up. LGM.
Excellent interview, and I was fascinated with his decision to stay in LA. My take on this is that the game here is getting too interesting. He has always loved politics, and I read this as a good sign.

Manananana #27 What Brad means by that is that we do not tend to take DeLay's statements as gospel as the MSM has.

Note the key word "agenda".

The articles here, even if and when there are several of them about DeLay, tend to point out DeLay's departure from fairness and practicing what one preaches. The more often there are articles the more often he has departed.

This Blog even advocates being careful to seperate the neocon madness that DeLay represents from the republican and democrat sanity that members of those parties moderately put forth.

DeLay is a phenomenon of the worst in "politics" advocated by the parasite neocons in the current (republican, democrat, etc.) political parties.

No matter what your excuses, old Tom is dominating this blog's front page. He probably laughs about that. I know I would were I he. You losers seem to be obsessed with him - I wonder why? Is it fear? Or is it something darker?